As a Judge Is Censured, a Friend Is Arraigned in a Bronx Fracas

By KAREEM FAHIM; Matthew Sweeney contributed reporting for this article.

Published: August 26, 2005

A State Supreme Court justice in Manhattan has been censured by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for inappropriate behavior after an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her drunken-driving arrest in July 2002.

Though cleared of all criminal charges, the justice, Donna M. Mills, admitted to the commission that she should not have driven her 1979 Rolls-Royce after drinking as much alcohol as she had. She also told the commission that her accusations that the arresting officers had singled her out because she is black had been offensive.

Censure is the second most serious form of public discipline a judge can receive, one step short of removal from office, according to the commission's administrator, Robert H. Tembeckjian. Justice Mills has 30 days to appeal the decision.

The unanimous decision by the commission, which was reached on Aug. 17 and announced yesterday, comes at a difficult time for Justice Mills, 52, who was already the subject of public attention this week in an unrelated court matter.

Yesterday, an ordained minister and church choir director, Lawrence Craig, who was described by friends as her companion, was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court on a felony charge of attempted burglary, as well as misdemeanor charges of attempted assault, trespassing and endangering the welfare of a child, and other charges.

The charges stemmed from an occurrence on Saturday in which Mr. Craig drove a black convertible belonging to Justice Mills to a Bronx apartment building and tried to grab a 4-year-old boy from his family's home, according to witnesses' accounts. In court yesterday, Mr. Craig's lawyer, Steven Young, said that his client had a drinking problem and that the arresting officer reported that Mr. Craig appeared to be either drunk or under the influence of drugs. Mr. Craig, who was released on $2,500 bail, could not be reached for comment last night. Neither Justice Mills nor her lawyer returned calls made to their offices.

According to the decision, which was released yesterday by the judicial conduct commission, on July 22, 2002, after an evening out with a friend that included ''numerous'' drinks and dinner, Justice Mills got into the Rolls-Royce, which had been parked in a lot belonging to a Loehmann's department store in the Bronx. As she started to leave the lot, opposite the 50th Precinct station house in Kingsbridge, Justice Mills tried to make a U-turn, and became stuck between two parked cars, the text of the decision said.

Police officers who arrested her testified at her trial that Justice Mills ''had a strong odor of alcohol, was unsteady on her feet and was incoherent,'' the decision said.

The commission began its investigation into Justice Mills's conduct after a Bronx jury acquitted her of the drunken-driving charges in April 2004, Mr. Tembeckjian said. Justice Mills, who refused a Breathalyzer test when she was arrested, did not take the stand at her trial. But her lawyer at the time, Paul Gentile, contended that she had been singled out because of her race.

According to the decision, Justice Mills acknowledged to its members that it was ''inappropriate for her to drive after consuming as much alcohol as she did that evening.''

The commission also noted that while Justice Mills had accused the officers of arresting her because she is black, she had not uttered ''profanities, epithets, or other words that would have been offensive per se.''

She also did not ''invoke her judicial office or assert the influence of the judicial office in order to avoid arrest,'' according to the decision. Justice Mills is serving a 14-year term that ends in 2012, according to a spokeswoman for the Office of Court Administration.

The commission found that she had violated standards requiring judges ''to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary and to avoid conduct that detracts from the dignity of the judicial office.''

In the case against Mr. Craig, Johanna Hernandez, an assistant district attorney in the Bronx, said in court yesterday that prosecutors had contacted authorities in Wisconsin, where Mr. Craig pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor sexual assault charge in 2002. Two other sexual assault charges were dropped.

A report prepared by the Wausau, Wisc., police as part of the inquiry into allegations against Mr. Craig included interviews with cast and crew members of ''Big River,'' a production the Wausau school district had hired Mr. Craig to perform in.

The female witnesses, who ranged in age from 14 to 18, told investigators that Mr. Craig had touched them on their buttocks, breasts and legs, and kissed many of them. One 15-year old girl, identified as ''H'' in the report, said that during the play's final performance, Mr. Craig had ''French kissed her'' in a secluded spot, and mentioned coming back to a hotel with him. The girl said that Mr. Craig ''encouraged her not to tell anyone what he had done.''

Another witness, an older woman, suggested that many girls had sought out Mr. Craig whenever he was not on stage.